Tea and Zen

I've seen this tea sold elsewhere as Fo Mei most commonly, among a few other names. Basically, this tea here is your most commonly drunk, easily accessible, popular tea to drink in China. It is inexpensive, fairly tasty, and easy to find.

Dry leaf

This particular tea is from Zhejiang Province, best known for Longjing. The tea master is Hu Zhao Yu.

If you've ever had young Hyson it is a lot like that except it doesn't have that dirty taste to it that lingers in your mouth. It's also a little sweeter. I used up the last of my tea in this. It's a little old, but it still brewed up some very good cups. If you are looking for a green tea that is affordable and has a long shelf life (in comparison to most green teas short life) this tea is a good choice. You can find it in a lot of places and it is more or less the same.

I used 4g/235ml, 85C water, first brewing was 60 seconds +10 seconds per each additional brewing.

On the back of the package:

Eyebrow tea is the most popular style of green tea in China. Tea masters knead the leaves to twist them before baking them in the oven, which gives the tea its characteristic eyebrow shape. Our Buddha's Eyebrow is grown in the mountains of Eastern China, where monks in the local temple drink it every day. The teas rich, robust taste is never bitter. Its affordable price help makes it a perfect "drink everyday" tea.

Brewings

Ever had Twinings Jasmine Loose Green tea? If so, imagine the aroma of that tea and this is more or less the same aroma except that tea was never scented with jasmine. It also has a deep, earthy green scent beneath the jasmine. It vaguely reminds me of peat.

You get a somewhat cloudy yellow liquor. It smells exactly like the dry leaf. The liquor is very smooth, a little heavy, and has absolutely no astringency. It tastes like peat, ever so slightly of honey, and a greenness that reminds me of a cheap sencha. Not complex at all, but good. It's well balanced.

The second cup is much more earthy. You are initially met with the peat-like earthyness followed by a light green bean flavor. There are very subtle hints of honey and jasmine. The liquor now has a slight astringency and an almost bitter earthyness to it different than the peat.

The third cup was even more robust and earthy in both taste and smell. All of the sweetness from the previous cups was gone in both the taste and what little aftertaste there was to begin with. That being said, there was no aftertaste in this cup, period. The liquor was a little cloudier than the first two brewings. While still smooth, the liquor had developed a slight roughness to it. The astringency was at the same level as the second cup.

I decided to stop on the fourth cup. Just like the third, it was very earthy and robust. That was about it. There was a little more astringency but it still wasn't abrasive. Based off the amount of flavor that was left in this cup I could've brewed at least another two. perhaps more with a progressively decreasing robustness. For the low leaf quality you're able to get a lot of tea out of the leaf. Even more importantly it is tasty. As already said, if you're looking for an inexpensive, tasty everyday cup, this tea is for you. It doesn't have the bitter or dirty aftertaste like a lot of similar teas in this grade.

Rating

Considering what this tea is, I give it an eight. It's reasonable for an everyday tea. Tasty, robust, and inexpensive. It never goes bitter which is a nice plus. I would imagine that this tea would be reasonable iced as well. I'd try it that way in the future but I typically don't like green tea iced. It has nothing on hot green tea!

As you can see in the wet leaves picture under the "brewings" section, the leaf is mostly broken. That is why I'm not providing a leaf sample here. There would just be lots of partial leaf particles to pick off of each other even though they're all of reasonable size.

If you're interested you can purchase this tea message them on facebook as it is not listed on their Facebook or website (like many of their teas). Tell them Ian sent you!

This is a fantastic tea. This stock I have right here is sadly a little old, but it still packs a punch. It's something I do plan on getting more of (assuming they don't run out of stock) once I have a lot less tea. Right now my blog is booked till January while making an update every two days. That's a lot of tea! Tiger Lily and Seven Cups are the only two places I have seen Orchid scented tea offered, so if you enjoy Jasmine scented teas, check this out while stock lasts!

Dry leaves

Anyway, I highly recommend you check out Tiger Lily Tea. They're a little Mom & Pop style shop in the quaint, historical town of Mystic, CT. The owners are extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Unfortunately most of their stock is not on their website or Facebook, but if you're looking for a WuYi Oolong then there are your go to guys. I'd definitely say that WuYi is their specialty. 

That being so, they also offer many herbal teas, a few flavored varieties such as a Cherry Sencha, Blueberry Black, and Chocolate Mint Black tea if flavored teas suit your fancy. They offer a few Japanese greens, several Chinese greens, and a yellow tea. The exact yellow tea I do not remember right now. So, in short, they have a lot of stock. I know right now they have two teas I haven't seen anywhere, period. One is the Ming Huang Hong I reviewed earlier, and another is a rolled oolong. I don't remember the origin. 

This tea is made up entirely of young tea buds grown on Mengding Mountain, scented with spring blooming Orchids. Man does it smell amazing! Even in the scenting being weaker, you can still taste the sweet, floral nature of the orchids in the aroma. Simply fantastic.

I used the last of my tea (3.8g)/235ml, 85C water. First steeping was 30 seconds + 10 per each additional steeping.

On the back of the package (apologies for the smudge in the image, that's my fault!):

Tea scented with Orchid flowers has always been quite rare. Today, only Sichuan province tea makers produce this tea by means of careful scenting processes that uses fresh Spring blooming Orchids and young tea buds grown on Sichuan’s Mengding Mountain. A rare scented tea that balances the complexities of high quality green tea and the delicate scent of the orchid flower.

Brewings

Once brewed, the first cup smelt of orchids and a red leaf lettuce. In the aftertaste you have orchid, honey, and hint of gold raspberries. The liquor is very smooth and full without a tiny hint of astringency. As this is the bottom of the bag there were a few broken pieces, it likely came from them. There is also a slight bubbliness to it like soda. It is very subtle.

In the second cup the liquor is even more buttery and smooth. Your tongue is immediately met with a very strong flavor of honey, melon, and orchid mixed together. The lettuce from before is much lighter in flavor. In the aftertaste there is orchid, melon, and a little elderberry that mingle together.

The third cup is much milder in flavor. Butterlettuce and a hint of green beans are present in the liquor. The aftertaste is a gentle mixture of orchid and honey.

This is something that I particularly like about this Orchid scented tea. You get the same experience as jasmine: floral, a little fruity and a little green, but you have a totally different overall flavor profile. I get raspberries in jasmine tea,  but not gold raspberries. They do taste different. I rarely get elderberry in jasmine tea. Yet, here it is in the orchid. I do get the orchid flavor in jasmine teas, but it is much weaker than the jasmine flavor. Here, that is by far the main floral profile and it is simply delightful. It isn't overpoweringly floral like a lot of jasmine I've had. It's just floral enough to be the main taste but mild enough to let the other flavors shine through. This tea isn't one I would consider complex but it s very enjoyable. Sometimes being complex is a good thing, other times it isn't. This is one of those times where it's simplicity is the beauty of a tea.

The remaining three cups were very similar to the third cup. Mild, smooth, lightly fruity and floral, and downright delicious. Considering this tea is on the older end, it wasn't as strong as it would've been otherwise. Since it gave me tasty cups despite the age I believe this says a lot about the quality as well. The fresh tea is much, much better than this. Yet it is still better than a lot of jasmine I've had out there. Seriously: try this tea!

Rating

Overall I give this tea an 8.2. It's a nice, delicious change from your typical jasmine tea. It's sweet, floral, and a little fruity. The price is a little steep ($14.99/25g) but the quality is definitely worth it if you ask me. It's lovely for anyone who is enthusiastic about floral scented teas.

Leaf Samples

If you're interested you can purchase this tea here or visit their shop!

This bag did not want to open. The resealable part give me the middle finger which was unfortunate. I was planning on drinking it quickly anyway but sheesh. Had to put the bag in a ziplock since the reseal never actually opened. It certainly means the tea was very safe from the air. This is a long review so the tl;dr is go buy this tea it is fantastic. 10/10. It also smells like pure bliss. You'll get the most out of this tea Grandpa Style.

Dry leaves

I really like the way that this tea smells. It has a very sweet, almost candied scent to it. Cream comes to mind among a few others scents I recognize but can't quite put a finger on. The more I sat on it, it reminded me of the brown sugar coated nuts that a General Store sells around here. Pecans came to mind the most, perhaps almond brittle and sticky sweet rice as well. A very subtle cocoa note is in the aroma as well. That's not something I smell in green tea very often.

From the website:

A wild-growing tea picked from a tea field abandoned over 30 years ago in the high mountains at an altitude in excess of 1300m. The tea has a wonderful aroma and brilliant nutty taste.

I don't know about you but I think that it is pretty cool that it comes from an abandoned field. If you can't tell from my aroma description, it does indeed have a wonderful aroma. I can't wait to try it! The price is very nice ($11.03/50g) so when I do another sample order I will probably purchase 50g of this. It'll make for a very tasty everyday Longjing. The aroma alone is to die for! I could sit here and smell it all day.

As Longjing is best drunk Grandpa style, that is what I did first. 2.5g/355ml, 80C water and topped up at the 2/3rds mark.

I then did western style brewing. 2.5g/235ml, 80C water, 30 seconds first brew +10 seconds for each additional brewing.

With the last 5g I did gong fu style. 5g/120ml, 80C water, 10 seconds first brew +2-5 seconds for each additional brewing.

Grandpa Style

Seriously Brah this tea smells absolutely amazing. Longjing is the Chinese green I have the most experience with and the aroma of this one alone blows me away. $11.03/50g is just whaaaaat!!!! I've had tea of lesser quality for much more, and I've had tea of the same quality for more.

My mind is seriously blown.

While might lighter, the liquor has a very similar aroma. It had more of the classical Longjing greenness scent to it than the dry leaf.

The liquor is incredibly buttery and smooth. There isn't a hint of astringency anywhere in sight. Look out for miles and there wouldn't be a sign. The initial taste reminds me of a mid-grade sencha mingled with a hint of melon. In the aftertaste there is elderberry, melon, and honeysuckle. They are all incredibly subtle but oh so delicious.

There were a whole lot of leaf fuzzies floating around in the liquor which I always like to see.

After I topped up the tea the second time the greenness was much less potent, not that it was terribly strong before. Elderberry, raspberry, and melon danced around my tongue in the aftertaste. The sencha-like greenness hung around as well which was rather nice. It balanced out the aftertaste very nicely. There was still no astringency anywhere and the liquor was a smooth and buttery as when I first poured in the water. As it continued to brew the characteristic greenness began to come back.

I seriously cannot believe this tea. This is better than some Longjing I've had at $1+/g and that is insane! I'm looking at trying Tea Drunk's Longjing once I am almost out of my What-Cha orders and this will be a tea I compare it to because this is outstanding and Tea Drunk's is extremely expensive. If you had given this to me and not told me the price range I would've guessed $1+/g.

After the third top up the liquor smelt a lot like the brown sugar coated nuts I mentioned before. A little more than half of the leaves had fallen to the bottom at this point and there are so many big, beautiful buds to look at. A larger percentage of broken pieces than something you'll pay more money for, but considering this is just as good as some much more expensive Longjing who cares?

The greenness was diluted again but that is a given considering the top up. The aftertaste consisted primarily of honey, cream, and almond brittle. It wasn't overpowering but it was very sweet and enjoyable. It was barely noticeable but I picked up on elderberry and raspberry as well on the sides of my tongue. Even more subtle was the taste of sweet sticky rice, it came to me after not sipping for around a minute.

I let it sit for a little without sipping it to see if it would get bitter. It didn't, though a slight astringency had shown up. It wasn't abrasive or annoying. A new greenness, kind of like Spinach, had shown up a swell.

After topping up a fourth time the greenness died down again and the mild astringency remained. The sweetness in the aftertaste though... so good! Raspberries, melon, jasmine, strawberry, and a teeny hint of elderberry.

I. Can't. Get. Enough. Of. This. Tea. This is so good Grandpa Style I don't even want to make it the other ways now! It ended up lasting for around three hours with very frequent top ups. Simply outstanding!

Western Style

The smell of the brewing leaves is very lovely. It has that candied nuttiness mingled with a greenness that reminds me of a less potent sencha. The liquor for the first brewing came out almost clear as one would expect. It was very pretty all the same. Just like when brewed grandpa style it starts out lightly vegetale like green beans with a sweet honey, jasmine, and cream aftertaste. Very smooth and light on the tongue with a slight astringency. After many sips elderberry and raspberry begin to show up in the aftertaste at the back of your tongue.

I had a reasonable break between my first and second cup because I got distracted by reddit. The aftertaste lingered the whole time and was absolutely lovely. The elderberry, cream, and jasmine were the most prevalent so it's very sweet.

The second cup is equally gentle. The liquor had green beans, sencha, and a hint of nori to it. Nice umami touch to it that didn't come out when I was brewing it grandpa style. The aftertaste was still very sweet. Cream and jasmine hung around the most. A slight astringency had shown up but it wasn't abrasive. Despite this it was very buttery and smooth.

For the third cup I accidentally didn't have the water hot enough. Despite this you could still pick out the vegetale notes and the sweet aftertaste was still present. More astringent than before.

The fourth cup had lost most of its sweetness but was still very vegetale. Sencha, spinach, and asparagus come to mind. The liquor is still very buttery and smooth. In the aftertaste I primarily taste spinach and sencha mingled with a hint of honey. If you wait a few moments before sipping again the honey taste increases.

The fifth cup was this teas last legs and very "meh." While good, I do think that this tea is much better when done grandpa style.

Gong Fu

I really didn't want to make this tea Gong Fu style. I really just wanted to drink the rest grandpa style but alas.

Compared to the other brewing styles, the first cup came out much, much greener tasting. Not terribly strong, but the profile was still evident. Green beans and tulsi were the main greens to come to mind.I also had Ippodo's 2016 Shincha not longer before this tea and it is very, very green (and had upset my stomach) so that may be playing a role here. I also don't typically like greens when brewed gong fu style but hey, gotta try it for the review.

Yeah it wasn't the Shincha, the second and third cups were absolute battery acid. I am so sad I wasted 5g I could've used for grandpa style brewing ;-; the more you know I guess?

Rating

This tea is a 10 and I don't give 10 out often. Seriously, this was absolutely fantastic. And the price, wow!! This tea has an amazing aroma, an aftertaste to die for, it never goes bitter, and it is all around a lovely tea. I know where I'll be buying my Longjing from now. I am still in awe about how fantastic this tea is. 50g of this would last me forever considering I, obviously, try other teas to review them and I only use 2.5g/355ml when brewing Grandpa style.

Leaf samples

If you're interested in buying this tea (and you really should be!) you can purchase it here.

This is part of my Sample Demolition: Verdant Tea series.

I am very fond of Longjing in general. It's so delicate, floral, a little nutty, and slightly green. Assuming the Longjing is of reasonable quality, anyway. I've had some pretty terrible Longjing.

I almost exclusively made Longjing "grandpa style." It's what you'll commonly see recommended as well. Here, I had a 5g sample of Mrs. Li's 1st Picking ShiFeng Dragonwell.

Mrs. Li's 2016 ShiFeng Dragonwell dry leaves

You don't get any lazier than grandpa style. Pick up your favorite tall, open mouthed glass you can think of. I recommend 350-475ml (approx. 12-16oz). Heat up some water, pour water over leaves, let leaves sit and top up when the class is 2/3rds of the way full.

That is just what I did here.

I love my tumbler so much, I cannot speak of it highly enough. It is leak proof, holds in heat very well, it's double walled glass so it's cool to the touch, and it makes grandpa style brewing a breeze. The strainer you see in the picture below was designed just for that. There is a little basket I can screw onto it to brew tea in, but I only use that if I'm making some English style tea or genmaicha on the run.

I bought mine from Tiger Lily Tea. As of right now they don't have 50-75% of their products on their Facebook or their website. They do run out of stock of this tumbler sometimes, so I recommend calling or messaging them if you're interested. They did offer two or three other tumblers as well.

The best tea tumbler ever

Anywho, I weighed out 2.5g. 5g is way too much for 350ml when going grandpa style. I've done it before and for a little while it is far too strong and almost bitter. It mellows out after the third top up, but still. I personally recommend 2.5-3g/350ml but you can play around with quantities and see what you like. You may like the 5g, and for some other teas, I do use 5g.

The aroma of this tea was very pleasant. It had that very distinctive green, sweet, and floral aroma of good Longjing. I could taste the sweetness just from the aroma. I had Mrs. Li's 2015 1st Picking Shi Feng Dragonwell a few days ago. It also had a very pleasant smell, but it wasn't nearly as nice as this. But, it helps that this 2016 tea is much fresher than the 2015.

The water temperature I used was around 80C. I let the tea sit for a minute or two before taking a sip. It had a very buttery and smooth mouthfeel with a very mild astringency. It had a light, delicate yet incredible sweetness, like orchids, melon, and a hint of elderberries that clung to my whole pallet, not just the sides like sweetness tends to. It took me a little while to figure out what I was tasting, and once I had settled on what I thought I tasted I checked out the flavor profile on the website. It was very similar. At this early stage I taste nothing savory.
It's greenness reminded me of sencha. The flavor profile on Verdant Tea says matcha, but it isn't rich enough to be anything shade grown in flavor.

2015 Wet Leaves

2016 Wet leaves in gaiwan once I was done drinking

Over the first hour or so the flavor stayed very much the same, but I'm not complaining. I thought it was very enjoyable. However, its astringency began to grow as it continued to brew, but this was expected. There was no harshness in the astringency. After the first hour some flavor began to diminish, as expected. The greenness disappeared first, within the first hour. There were hints of it through the entire session, but it was much more subtle. The delicate sweetness remained for the three hour period in which I enjoyed this tea.

While this was a nice Longjing, I think that Mrs. Li's 2015 was better. The picking standard was higher, there were more buds, the leaves were much more plump, bright, and beautiful. Here is a comparison picture of the two leaves, wet and dry. Apologies for the quality of the dry 2015 leaves (see below). They're about the same shade as the 2016 in person.

Mrs. Li's 2015 1st Picking ShiFeng Dragonwell, apologies for image quality, it was the same shade as the 2016

The 2016 was much sweeter and had a smoother finish. But, I am fairly certain this is because it was picked freshly. Age does play a huge part in flavor, especially with green teas. The 2015 was much less astringent, and that is due to the fact that the leaves were much more uniform, smaller, and less broken pieces. I found two broken leaves in the whole 5g. There wasn't a whole lot of broken pieces in the 2016 either, but enough to cause it to become astringent much faster. I was able to find many in these 2.5g. You can see a lot of semibroken buds in the picture below. They're not bad by any means, but in the 2015 everything was intact and almost everything looked like the first three on the left and many like the far right leaf in the 2016 ShiFeng.

Regardless I enjoyed both, and the leaf quality in the 2015 and 2016 are very high. You can see that both in the wet and the dry leaves.

Mrs. Li's 2015 1st Picking ShiFeng Dragonwell. Apologies for picture quality, in person they're as green as below

Mrs. Li's 2016 ShiFeng Dragonwell

For both the 2015 and 2016, the sweetness lingered in my mouth long after I was done drinking. For supper I had some portobello mushrooms, peppers, and onions, and once their taste had faded the sweetness was still there. After taste is one of the most important aspects of a tea to me, and a tea that lingers long after you're done and has you wanting more is a good tea to me.  

Rating

Overall I give this Longjing a thumbs up. I'd give it an 8.8. I think that the price Verdant Tea is selling this particular Longjing for is pretty fair. A little more than ideal due to the standard that I found within this sample, but it is a small sample. If I were to still purchase from Verdant Tea, which I will not be (for details refer to the Sample Demolition: Verdant Tea link above) I would definitely but it.

If you would like to purchase this tea, you can find it here.